John McTiernan, who directed such hits as The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard and the remake of the Thomas Crown Affair, is facing up to one year in jail after pleading guilty earlier this week to charges in a racketeering case that has been mesmerizing the Hollywood community for years. McTiernan was involved in hiring a private detective to illegally wiretap a fellow producer. Click here for more
If you think your love life is a mess consider this: Oksana Grigorieva is the woman embroiled in the high-profile Mel Gibson scandal. She's the former girlfriend who bore Gibson's child and audio taped his expletive-filled tirades. Turns out she's also the ex-g.f of another heartthrob, former James Bond Timothy Dalton - and she's had an out-of-wedlock child with him as well. Unlike her relationship with Gibson, however, Oksana says she's on great terms with Dalton, who is active in raising their child together. Dalton has been supportive of her during the Gibson scandal. Just call it James Bond vs. Mad Max. Click here for more
Aldo Sanbrell photographed in 2007 by John Exshaw. (Photo copyright John Exshaw. All rights reserved.)
BY JOHN EXSHAW
With the death of Aldo Sanbrell, who passed
away in Alicante last Saturday (10 July), aged 79, another link to the great
days of Italian film-making – and the Italian Western, in particular – has been
lost. The only actor to appear in all of Sergio Leone’s Westerns, Aldo was the
most prominent and recognisable of all those mean-looking hombres who rode the badlands and bit the dust of AlmerÃa in those
far-off days when southern Spain was the Wild West – Italian style. Asked once
by a British director if he “knew how to die,†Aldo replied, “Oh yes, señor, I
have been killed in many film fights here in AlmerÃa. I have died for Clint
Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, George Scott . . . I have made 185
films and I have been killed in all of them. Yes, I know how to die.â€
Aldo, photographed at home in Alicante, 2008 - and always ready for action. (Photo copyright John Exshaw. All rights reserved.)
There have been a rash of recent news reports indicating that the next James Bond film has been officially canceled due to the uncertain future of MGM studios. The Bond franchise is the only cash cow that the financially-strapped MGM has to bank on. However, unless a new buyer emerges, the studio can't launch any film productions. Eon Productions, which co-owns the franchise, recently stated that preparations for the next Bond film had been indefinitely suspended until the MGM problem is resolved. Suddenly news reports began appearing, stating that the film had been officially canceled, making the fate of the next film seem even more ominous. Exactly what the difference is between "suspended indefinitely" and "canceled" is open to debate but it certainly seems to indicate that star Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes are now free to accept other projects and won't be waiting for word on the start of the next Bond film. We asked Eon Productions for a comment, and they simply said they are not deviating from their previous statement which read :
"Due to the continuing
uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure
to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on BOND 23
indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not
have
a
date for the release of BOND 23," stated Michael G Wilson and Barbara
Broccoli
jointly.